I use one, and it triggers best with RMC piezos. I have them in my Warrguitar, but that said, it's on the top 6 strings. The upper string work really well with the RMC's. Plus I think much also has to do with the uniformity of tapping, it's more like playing keys anyway. I have used it on a six string bass with the Axon bass pickup and it's OK on the low B and E, but there is a bit of lag, but much better than any of the other systems I've tried. And best of all it really does play better over time, it does appear to learn with the Neural Net. The other thing I can say in it's defense is there are a lot of tweaks that can be done on the individual strings.
I wouldn't want to try and do piano parts on the B and E string, but string type and pads work fine.
Dirk

you can use the divided pickups - the gk2b / gk3b etc.
The axon is the best tracking unit I've tried, but there's still a delay you have to get used to. The delay is much less on the higher notes, so when playing some midi only parts I've used the transpose down feature on the convertor and played higher up the fretboard to get quicker tracking.

I've been thinking of going to 6 string to do this very thing - I'm curious - where do you get your Hi F string? Is it wound?

I have a bass set aside for piccolo and I hate the unwound F string.

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It get's weirder, yet. My 6-string is 32" scale. So, the C and F strings are actually guitar strings. They are wound. The gauges are .034 and .024 if I remember correctly. If you are ever in San Jose, drop me a note and you can have a chance to play my 6 string.

It get's weirder, yet. My 6-string is 32" scale. So, the C and F strings are actually guitar strings. They are wound. The gauges are .034 and .024 if I remember correctly. If you are ever in San Jose, drop me a note and you can have a chance to play my 6 string.

You're saying I can use the roland gk3b as the pickup - with the Axon system as a MIDI convertor to trigger sounds in my roland keyboard and laptop softsynths?

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That is correct. You can buy the axon in two versions. The 'bare bones' version has midi conversion only - so you'd have to use it to trigger something else. The SB version has an internal sound card so you can use it as an all in one, or still use it to control external midi devices.

This interests me because my future Benavente fretless 6 will have the Roland GK pickup and electronics installed. How do you guys think this thing will compare to the Roland GR-20 (which is currently my first choice, based on reports of its performance)?

This interests me because my future Benavente fretless 6 will have the Roland GK pickup and electronics installed. How do you guys think this thing will compare to the Roland GR-20 (which is currently my first choice, based on reports of its performance)?

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sound cool. Based on my experiences with the gr-20 and axon, I would choose the axon today. The gr-20 is fine, but the latency is the most important aspect of midi conversion to me. The Roland was fine, but the Axon was consistently much better in this regard. I'm sure the new version will be just as good, if not better.

looks like Terratec bought axon. Blue Chip used to distribute them over in the US, from the terratec web site it looks like that'll no longer be the case.